They gave the dude a blinker...

Just for biking to work 10 times!

And for every month that I get zapped at least 8 times, they enter me into a drawing for some pretty cool prizes.  How cool is that?

Finally, I can count again!

It's been over three years since I've been able to count, but I got back in the game last month (thanks primarily to my job change).  This time it was the city of Minneapolis conducting the counts and I pitched in two hours of my time to count pedestrians.

I even went above and beyond the call of duty, and in addition to cyclists and walkers, I also kept a tally of bike salmon.  Of the ~80 or so bikers, I was a tad surprised that only 3 of them were "swimming up stream."  

Aslo, first person to correctly identify my location wins a prize:

October Light

(From Monday's commute)

I always love it when the buildings downtown reflect the sun rising over St. Paul.

Q3 Reporting

For the first time in my life, I have been able to engage in regular commuting by bike, mostly due to a job change in July.  I started the new gig on July 30, and as a result I logged more bicycle commutes in Q3 than I probably did for the year in 2011.

Here are some YTD statistics through Q3 of 2012:

Number of days commuting by bike: 35
Percentage of commutes done by bike: 88%

I have also been utilizing a service organization to track my commutes.  The Zap Twin Cities program is doing some very interesting things in interactive commuting software.

Before, I tracked my commutes manually:

Now, it is 100% electronic:

Wave of the future, dude.

Someone else has found a new work-bike balance

It doesn't look like this will last much longer, though:

Have you seen him?

Saw an old friend on the street the other day...

And it made me miss the old job.

But only for a second.

They're tracking me

Just because I'm reading 1984 doesn't mean I've gotten paranoid.  And furthermore, just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you.

But seriously, I am being tracked via the Zap Twin Cities program.  I willingly submitted to this surveillance, mostly because I'm a sucker for bike related programs, regardless of how privacy invasive they are.  I showed up at the IDS Center and they slapped this thingy on my spokes that will register me at certain checkpoints in Minneapolis/St. Paul:

Plus, they promise rewards will be given, and it's nice that somebody else will be counting my commutes for me.  Didn't Benjamin Franklin say something like "he who sacrifices bike privacy for prizes deserves both."  I think that's pretty much the quote, right?

Reconciliation

It's time for a new chain on the Long Haul Trucker, and because I remember encountering some challenges with a previous chain replacement, I consulted my friends at Surly Bikes to make sure I had my facts right.  Here's what my friends in Bloomington said I needed:

I visited my local bike shop and grabbed the SRAM PC-971 (which I prefer to Shimano chains because the removable master link because it's easier to clean).  No problem, right?

After I got home with the goods, I did a double check to make sure I had grabbed the right one, here's what I found:

Don't get me wrong, as a lusophile (and someone with an interest in the health of the global economic system of which we are a part), I'm ecstatic that products are still being manufactured somewhere in southern Europe, but I'm not so thrilled about the link count.

They may as well have made the chain out of braided unicorn hair because I can't buy that anywhere in the right quantity either.

Work-Bike Balance

After seven years of chasing the "work-life" balance dragon in public accounting, I'm happy to report that I'm embarking on a new, attainable challenge at Target, my new employer: work-bike balance.

As you might recall, over a year ago I discussed the difficulties in biking more miles in a given week than hours worked for the same work.  I'm happy to report that things are looking good, even after two weeks on the job.

Hours worked: 45
Miles biked: 78.8

Of that total, about 50 of them were from commuting, and my new gig has a bike locker room and showers. And since I also found out that I can keep current on my CPEs, too, I will be able to keep my active CPA license, and thus, this blog.

Existential dilemma (via haiku)

Thursday's the last day
Public accounting no more
Keep this blog alive?

Death by Suburb

I set out to visit the bike shop in Apple Valley where I bought the Giant, and almost didn't make it there.  I had forgotten my phone (and map) and missed a turn and so I tried navigating some side streets but none of the streets really go anywhere but circle you back from where you came.  Without food or phone I wasn't sure I would ever emerge from the cul-de-sac-ery of Eagan, Burnsville, and Apple Valley so a 19 mile one-way stretched to 26.  I made it, and at least I was able to get some more miles in.  Maybe I should just stay in the Minneapolis city limits from now on...

30 for 30

I neglected to jot down the daily log for the last 10 days of the challenge, but I can confirm that I did in fact ride each day.  I celebrated the final day by mapping out a 20 mile route, with the home stretch down Summit Avenue before crossing the river.  I suppose it's the closest I could get to a "Champs-Élysées" moment in the  twin cities.  

Work is seriously slowing back down to normal levels so even though it's fun to get out every day, I'd rather rack up the miles and many of those days just ended up being rides around the block.  

Regression Analysis

Remember when I thought things were looking good and my weekly miles were finally catching up to my hours worked?  It didn't last long, and the past ten days have been brutal again. 

How am I going backwards here?  It's not hard to figure out why this has happened.  My schedule has been in place for a long time, so I should have known that busy season was going to stretch to the end of April.

It hasn't kept me from getting a perfect attendance sticker, though.  I've managed to keep riding every day in April so far.  Here's how the last 10 days turned out:

Day 11 - I rode a few blocks down the street to hang out with a friend after work.  I hadn't caught up with Brent for awhile, so if nothing else good were to come out of these 30 days, this alone made the whole endeavor worthwhile.

Day 12 - I had no real place to ride to, but wanted to keep the streak alive.  I jumped on the saddle and sprinted around the block to get a green check mark for the day.

Day 13 - We had absolutely nothing to eat for breakfast, and Turtle Bread is less than a mile from our house.  This was a perfect opportunity to obliterate two avian beings with one rock (figuratively speaking) and I took full advantage.

Day 14 - We were still out of food on Saturday, so I did a grocery run to pick up some more substantive food.  I also rode the bike into the office, which helped counter the depression that accompanies being in the office on a Saturday halfway through April.  At least I got to bike there!

Day 15 - Nothing special here, just enjoyed a short Sunday ride.

Day 16 - It was a little late when I pulled in, but decided to ride to the river to wind down a bit.  I pedaled on the West River Parkway path, peering through trees and catching glimpses of the street lamps across the river reflecting in the water like candle flames.  Very peaceful, but it was chilly so I didn't linger long.

Day 17 - I only had time for a quick spin around the block, so to mix it up, I took alleys instead of streets.  I expected to encounter a few miscreants digging through trash cans or breaking into garages, but all was calm on the alley front.

Day 18 - I had an administrative deadline to meet by midnight on Wednesday, and made it with fifteen minutes to spare.  This was just enough time for me to jump on the Greenspeed (now converted to a fixed gear) and take another spin around the block to stay at 100% for the month.  Then I came home and worked until 3:30 am.  I love my job.

Day 19 - Another short ride down the street.  It wasn't just a "check the box" ride though, it was actually to ride along with a ride who was test riding a couple of bikes. Hopefully he buys one soon.

Day 20 - Took advantage of the Nice Ride bikeshare to get across downtown to meet some up with some people after work on Friday.  Sure beats walking!

After 20 days, I've still got a perfect record, and if the weather doesn't throw any wrenches at me, I think I have a good shot at staying that way for the entire month.

Today's already the 10th

So far I'm batting 1.000 on the 30 Days of Biking, here's the rundown:

Day 1 - Did a 30 mile weekend ride on the Surly

Day 2 - Carpooled in, biked home

Day 3 - Drove to work, got home late, but rode across the Ford bridge into Highland Park to run an errand (the store ended up being closed)

Day 4 - Took a Nice Ride bike across downtown and back to grab lunch.

Day 5 - Worked late so I took a short evening ride through the neighborhood

Day 6 - Pati had the day off so I convinced her to have coffee with me in Golden Valley and I rode the bike
home in the afternoon

Day 7 - Made the most of having to work a weekend by commuting to the office by bike

Day 8 - Made the most of forgetting some papers (my business papers) at work on Day 7, so did a quick out and back to the office to grab them

Day 9 - Performed my free parking trick: parked on the fringe of downtown and took the Nice Ride to get to the office and back.

Day 10 - Carpooled in, biked home.

If it hadn't been for my pledge, I don't think I would have ridden on Day 3, 4, or 5.

I'm in, now who's coming with me?

Ride a bike every day in April?  Easy enough, until we get five inches of snow some time mid-April:

30 Days of Biking

Improving the Current Ratio

I've mentioned before that in an ideal world, my miles biked per week would equal or exceed my hours worked per week. This is a pretty good metric for my well-being and satisfaction, and is measured as follows:

Current Ratio = Miles biked / Hours worked

I logged 85 miles for the past week, and I guarantee you I didn't work 85 hours.  Things are looking good these days, although this coming week's forecast says rain for the weekend so we'll see if I can keep a good thing going or not.

Fresh Start

Things have been warming up around here, so last weekend I jumped on the bike for a weekend ride and noticed that my bike computer wasn't working. Turns out the battery was completely dead so I replaced it, but it wiped out my mileage history. It's definitely a punch in the gut to the accounting nerd in my that gets some joy out of tallying up the miles, but at least this way I'll have a clean canvas to track my 2012 miles, starting with the 50 I rode this weekend. Sometimes starting fresh can be a good thing, I guess.

Busy Season Soundtrack 2011 Edition: Relevant?

FASB Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 2:

Timeliness, that is, having information available to decision makers before it loses its capacity to influence decisions, is an ancillary aspect of relevance. If information is not available when it is needed or becomes available so long after the reported events that it has no value for future action, it lacks relevance and is of little or no use. Timeliness alone cannot make information relevant, but a lack of timeliness can rob information of relevance it might otherwise have had.

Considering the text above, this post hardly appears relevant considering I have flipped the calendar page and am about to kick-off busy season 2012. But even though these songs reach back eight to twelve months, I assert that they are relevant since my musical tastes have not diverged significantly from this time.

I fully acknowledge this should have been posted sooner, but a benefit to the timing of the post is that it is giving me something exciting to think about: new tunes I'll be rocking out to in 2012 are on their way.

Without further ado, I present the 2011 Busy Season Soundtrack (direct link and Grooveshark widget) along with comments on selected tracks:

Busy Season Soundtrack 2011



"Animal" by Neon Trees - I actually don't remember if they played this on the Current or not, but it was more or less the audio equivalent of taking four shots of espresso with two five-hour energy drink chasers.

"Second Chance" by Peter, Bjorn, and John - Peter Bjorn? Or Pete Yorn? This won't help clear things up:


"Wait So Long" by Trampled by Turtles - I'm guessing Mumford and Sons paved the Current's airwaves for these.

"Walking Far from Home" by Iron and Wine - This song lulled me into an hypnotic state and forced me to add it to the list.

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes - I wonder how many millenials heard this song, threw all their participation trophies and 10th place medals into the trash, and had a "what does it all mean" crisis?

"I Want the World to Stop" by Belle and Sebastian - I've heard them be described as "sad bastard music," but these guys are pretty good.

What awesome songs of 2011 did I miss?

Cycle Count

As 2011 came to a close, I did what most accountants do before ringing in the new year: take stock of my (bicycle) inventory.

Perhaps it's surprising that I had 11 bicycles in my possession on December 31, 2011.

Yes, eleven.

But I assure you there are perfectly good reasons for me to hoard bicycles like the proverbial cat lady. If I were clever, I would rattle off 22 lines about 11 bicycles a la The Nails, but alas I am not:

#1 - Giant TCR: Every cyclist needs a good road bike.

#2 - Surly Long Haul Trucker: Cycling isn't all fun and games. I still need a commuter bike and a grocery getter to take care of business.

#3 - Pati's bike: Only makes sense that a cyclist's wife would have one, too.

#4 - Raleigh SC-30: For year-round cycling, a beater bike is a must to soak up the punishment of Minnesota winters.

#5 - Sears bike (Greenspeed): A fixed-gear conversion with drop bars just waiting to be flopped and chopped. How can any self-respecting Minneapolis cyclist NOT have a fixie?

#6 - Dunelt 3-Speed: The perfect bike for a Sunday ride with Pati.

#7 - Raleigh Superbe 3-Speed: Um....It's always good to have a spare 3-speed?

#8 - Raleigh Sports 3-Speed: There's got to be a legitimate reason to have three 3-speeds...Hmm...Wait, I've got it! This one is a women's bike, so I'm just avoiding gender bias here. That's valid, right?

#9 - Diamond Back MTB: So...Just like I need a spare 3-speed, I also need a spare winter beater bike.

#10 - Raleigh Hybrid: A third-string winter bike. This is no different than NFL teams that carry three quarterbacks on their roster. You really never know what could happen and it's important to be prepared.

#11 - Diamond Back Hybrid: This one is earmarked for a friend. Seriously.

Now that I've thought about it, is 11 really enough?